


Cat-astrophic Disasters

by Arti



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-07 04:31:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18403148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arti/pseuds/Arti
Summary: It's been a few years since Marinette first became Ladybug, and as grateful as she is to have met Tikki and befriended Chat Noir, she's officially taken on too much. Even if she doesn't have to worry about Alya as much now that she's officially given up on trying to find out who Ladybug is beneath her mask, there's so much more that she has to deal with: Chloé, school, akumatizations, Chloé again, and her responsibilities as both your average teenager, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and Paris's beloved superhero, Ladybug.As time goes on and Marinette begins wearing down more and more, her stress reaches a point where she makes a fatal, unfixable mistake. With her relationships at stake, her once-envious life turned upside-down, and her responsibilities now impossible to fulfill, how will she be able to balance being both Marinette and Ladybug?





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, the irony of secretly being Ladybug was too much for Marinette to handle, especially when she wasn't feeling so lucky.

Her Monday morning went something like this: she bolted into class late, and as if she needed to announce herself even more than she already did, the door slammed embarrassingly loud against the wall as the handle slipped out of her fingers. Everyone's eyes were on her as she mumbled a brief apology to Ms. Bustier and slinked to her seat, but as she was hurrying up the steps to where Alya was sitting and giving her a disappointed look, she tripped over Adrien's book bag and ended up sprawled on the floor among his various things.

Out of everything she could have possibly tripped on, like Chloé's purposefully-extended leg or the spent ammunition from Kim pelting Ivan with paper balls again, the fact that it had to be something that belonged to Adrien made the humiliation about ten times worse than it should have been. As the class laughed at her, all too familiar with Marinette's innate clumsiness to ask if she was okay, she honestly wished that a whole would open up and swallow her whole.

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, Adrien's belongings weren't the only things that went flying across the floor. As she pushed herself up, groaning from the bruise that was undoubtedly forming on her shins, she was horrified to realize that her purse had been sent flying and had conveniently rolled to a spot a few feet away from her. It was flopped open, in front of an all-too familiar pair of white sneakers, with a startled Tikki laying underneath Alya's approaching hand as she bent down and tried to help Marinette by picking up her things.

Luckily, Tikki was a quick-thinker and phased through the classroom floor before Alya could touch her, but by then, the damage had already been done. After spending nearly an entire hour hiding in the locker room with a various assortment of sweating athletes and non-athletes alike, apologizing to her wasn't very easy, especially considering how Marinette couldn't get a single word in between Tikki's endless scolding.

The rest of the day was normal, if you count dealing with Chloé constant drama, messy lab experiments gone wrong, and a spilled lunch tray as normal, which was for Marinette. When she got home, however, her parents wasted no time in latching onto her and supply her with a long list of chores. She had to help them wash the dishes, run to the nearest market for some more eggs after she broke an entire carton during a last-minute order, clean her own room, help attend to the register, and so on. Marinette never minded helping her parents out; after all, they helped her with her problems more than enough, and she loved them. She was just exhausted.

Beyond exhausted, actually. She could have cried tears of relief when her mom finally came up to her and released her from her duties around eight o' clock. As she slumped up the stairs, waves of pain running through her back with even the slightest of movement, she was looking forward to sinking into her bed when a sudden crash from outside shook the entire building. Marinette was about to tumble backwards down the stairs, but she managed to catch herself on the banister at the very last second. Lucky her.

"Chloé Bourgeois!" someone yelled, their voice alone making the entire world tremble around her. "Come out now or I'll tear apart all of Paris to find you!"

At this point, Marinette was about to tear out both of her pigtails in a fatigue-induced rage. "Oh my GOD, Tikki, spots on before I LOSE MY—"

The transformation cut her off, thankfully saving her from her mom's own anger if she had been heard. After a flash of pink light, Ladybug zipped out from the nearest window and disappeared into the night, murmuring obscenities underneath her breath as she fought.

All of that happened on Monday alone. The rest of her week was either on the same level or even worse. Whether it was a grueling day of school, akumatizations, or her parents, they were all unknowingly competing to see what could cause her the most stress. Ladybugs were supposed to be lucky, right? It was her superpower, for god's sake, but lately, lucky was as far from what she was feeling as anything could get. At this point, even a million Lucky Charms couldn't stop her from being what was quite possibly the unluckiest girl in all of Paris.

This was pretty much the reason why Marinette had hesitated when she was first given the ladybug Miraculous by Master Fu. Marinette always messed up, no matter what she did to prevent that from happening. It was inevitable, intertwined in her fate with wires made out of steel.

But even as unlucky as she might have seemed, none of the bad things that happened to her would ever be able to compare with the absolute disaster that was fast-approaching. Maybe if she had known beforehand, she wouldn't have taken her (somewhat) mundane life for granted. Maybe she wouldn't have allowed so many of those negative things to affect her as deeply as they did. Maybe she would have said, "Screw it, I don't care if I'm a superhero, I'm taking a short mental-health vacation and that's final."

But none of the "maybe's" ever matter when the first domino begins to tip over. She couldn't have possibly known what was about to happen, how her life was going to change for the worse, how her "luck" was about get cat-astrophically worse.


	2. Chapter 2

"Another exhausting day," Marinette muttered as she finally fell into bed, fully-clothed and with an enormous load of homework looming over her, but she couldn't be bothered to move a single muscle after finally being able to lay down for the first time since she woke up that morning. In all honestly, she could have fallen asleep right then and there, but a high-pitched voice from somewhere below her loft startled her out of the beginnings of a dream.

"And as always, you did great, Marinette," Tikki said, swooping out from the insides of Marinette's purse and soaring over from where it had been discarded on the chaise to hover over her head. Not that Marinette could see because she was laying face-down, but Tikki wore a concerned expression, her small mouth open as she hesitated to speak what was on her mind. Her even tinier hands fiddled nervously in front of her.

Marinette knew that Tikki was only trying to comfort her, but she still couldn't help a small scoff. "I did great, huh? Not only did I completely bomb another test today and make an idiot of myself in front of the entire school in the cafeteria during lunch, I also ended up leading one of my own friends to be akumatized. I'm sorry, Tikki, but if that's great, so is swimming in a festering pool of trash." Marinette reached up, blindly groping for a pillow before finding one and hugging it tightly to her chest.

Tikki sighed deeply. "Marinette, look at me."

When Marinette didn't give any indication that she would comply or that she had even heard her, Tikki flew in front of her, landing in the spot where Marinette had been despondently studying the intricate stitching of her sheets.

Marinette tugged the pillow from under her, moving it up so that she could hide her face in it. "Tikki, I'm barely managing to keep my eyes open right now. If you start lecturing me, I really can't guarantee that I'll be able to stay awake to hear any of it," she said, her voice now slightly muffled.

Even though it was clear that she wasn't exaggerating in any way since every inch of her screamed of fatigue, Tikki crossed her arms over her chest. Her worried expression quickly turned into one of resolve as she finally found the courage to say what she needed to say.

"Marinette, I think we need to work on fixing up your schedule. Not only do you have your responsibilities when it comes to school, your parents, and being Ladybug, but you've been taking on unnecessary projects that are only weighing you down even more. If you don't cut some things down or start doing them differently, you're going to wear yourself so thin that you're going to end up unable to do anything the way you _should_ be doing them."

"I _know_ , Tikki," Marinette said, tears rising to her eyes even though they were quickly extinguished by the softness of the pillow that was still on her face. "But if I stop doing any of those things, then everyone around me is going to know that something's up and instead of just dealing with that, I'll also have to deal with all of my concerned friends and family trying to find out what's wrong."

There was a slight tug on the pillow. She couldn't exactly see what was the cause of it, but Tikki had started to pull on it, trying to get Marinette to come out from behind it. "I'm not saying you stop doing all of those favors or gifts completely," Tikki said, struggling against the strength of a girl who spent most of her days running around and carrying sacks of flour, "but Marinette, you chose to make the "Welcome back!" banner for Luka knowing that you'd barely have time to finish it, let alone make it to his party on time."

Marinette suddenly looked up, pushing away the pillow as she propped her head up on her hands. It was so unexpected that Tikki was pushed back with it, nearly drowning in pink fabric and fluff before she phased through it. "It's _Luka_ , Tikki. He's been traveling the world since he graduated, and no one in Paris has seen him since he left. And, I'll have plenty of time. Tomorrow's a city-wide holiday, remember? Tomorrow there's no school, and then the weekend comes right after. I can finish the banner easily, make it to the party, and be able to finish all of my homework along with all of my missing assignments. It'll be fine."

"Marinette, I seriously doubt that you're considering all of the possible factors into this. Something might come up with your parents' bakery. The weekends are always the busiest time for them, and that's not even taking all of the possible akumatizations into account. I really don't—"

"Trust me, Tikki," Marinette said softly, putting out her hand. Tikki knew that flying over to her would basically be consenting to whatever she was saying, but she couldn't help it. She landed in the center of Marinette's opened palm, staring doubtfully at her. "I'll be able to handle it. High school's the hardest part for most teenagers. I just need to push through for a little longer, and everything with smooth itself out with time. I promise."

"Not every high schooler has to balance their schedule between school, home, and being a superhero," Tikki said begrudgingly. "Marinette, please—"

Just as she was about to start literally begging Marinette to take it easy, there was a sudden magical shift in the air. Marinette couldn't feel it, since she was a human and everything, but for Tikki, it was all too distinguishable and familiar.

"What...?" Marinette asked, concerned after noticing the slight shift in Tikki's expression.

Just as the word left her mouth, the room slightly trembled and plants started bursting out of every nook and cranny in Marinette's room. Flowers exploded through the trapdoor, blades of grass started poking through her floorboards, and vines began creeping their way up the banister of the staircase leading to her loft.

"What is this?" Marinette yelped, jumping back just in time as a thorny stem wiggled forward to wrap itself around her ankle. It was a rhetorical question, however. There was only one explanation for the sudden appearance of greenery, and that was because Hawk Moth was being an absolute prick as usual.

Tikki dove out of the way as a spiky leaf came dangerously close. "I did tell you that you could do with a few plants here and there, but this wasn't what I meant."

Marinette smiled, but there was a certain force to it. Even so, she knew what she had to do. "Tikki, spots on!"

=-=-=-=-= 

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

In a flash of pink and a blur of red, the damage from the fight disappeared. Chat Noir, who pretty much looked like a kinky version of the Green Giant, reverted back to his normal self after being briefly enveloped by the magical ladybugs.

"Aww, I was really getting used to that look on you, Kitty," Ladybug teased, jingling the bell on his suit as he shuddered.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to eat another vegetable for a while," he said, wincing at the fresh memory of the fight in his head.

Ladybug laughed before she walked over to the spot of the rooftop where the outline of a small person was still laying.

The dazed toddler pushed itself up, looking around for a moment before bursting into a flurry of fatigue-induced tears. Ladybug picked him up gently, rocking him in her arms as she sighed.

"You and me both, little guy."

Chat walked over to them, leaning on his baton as he peered down at the wailing toddler. "You know," he deadpanned, "Hawk Moth is _really_ becoming desperate if he's using toddlers as villains and naming them things like..."

In perfect synchronization, both Ladybug and Chat Noir said, "Cabbage Patch Kid."

They looked at each other with complete disgust for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. "God, what else do you expect though?" Ladybug wheezed, barely able to get the words out in between fits of giggles. "This is from the guy who's probably more than forty years old, makes bad decisions for magical jewels, and calls himself _Hawkmoth_."

"He's probably a terrible father," Chat Noir gasped, rather ironically as he could have never guessed exactly who held the butterfly Miraculous.

An abrupt beeping sounded from Ladybug's earrings and Chat's ring, reminding them of their little amount of time.

"I think you're going to transform back sooner than me, M'lady. I'll take little Cabbage Patch here back to his room and then head out myself. Pound it?"

"Pound it," Ladybug said, smiling gratefully as she fist-bumped Chat and handed off the somewhat-soothed toddler to him. He had been wailing so insistently earlier, but Ladybug could only assume that he was more baffled than upset after watching their fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"Sweet dreams, M'lady!" Chat said, waving with his baton in hand as he leapt from the rooftop and disappeared into the late night.

Ladybug watched him go for a few seconds before she leapt to the floor herself, and just in time, too. As soon as her feet touched the ground of a deserted alleyway, her suit disappeared in a flash of pink, and Tikki flew out of her earrings.

Or, what _might_ have been a deserted alleyway, had a particular someone not been standing on the opposite side of the street, unknowingly filming the entire detransformation.

=-=-=-=-= 

Nino was wearing his pajamas, which consisted of a ratty old t-shirt from a music festival some years ago and his boxers. It was almost midnight and he had been so close to finally falling asleep when he had been unceremoniously startled out of the beginnings of a dream by a familiar ringtone.

He had reached over to the side of his bed, groping for his phone before he unplugged it from the charger and accepted the call. "Alya?" he mumbled, half-asleep until her panicked voice started screaming into his ear.

"Oh my god, Nino, I need your help. Ella and Etta threw a tantrum before they went to bed, and when I went in to check on them, they weren't in their beds! I think they snuck out to get ice cream like they wanted, but I've been checking every single ice cream shoppe and stand and they're nowhere to be found.

"Woah, woah," Nino said, fully alert now and already in the middle of throwing on a pair of jeans. "Do you want me to meet you somewhere or do you want to split up? Where are your parents and Nora?

"My parents are on a trip right now and Nora's overseas at some kickboxing competition. And just split up! We need to cover as much ground as we can right now! I was just watching the news and there was an akuma attack. They might have—"

With that last part said, Alya's voice suddenly cut off and the call ended without a warning. Nino tried dialing her again, but it went straight to her voicemail. 

"Hey! This is Alya Césaire, sorry I couldn't answer right now! Text me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"

Knowing that Alya's phone was usually always dead by the end of the night, Nino wasn't that surprised, but he was definitely worried. He knew that the magical ladybugs should revert everything back to normal, but there were still so many dangerous factors that could play into the situation. Not only were there possible kidnappers lurking the streets this late at night, but there was Hawkmoth. 

Nino had been editing some music on his laptop earlier when he was interrupted by an akuma warning, probably the same one that alerted Alya. It looked like the most recent villain was a toddler, and if Hawkmoth was willing to keep akumatizing kids that were as young as that, there was a good chance that the twins were in danger. Both Ella and Etta had already been akumatized once under Alya's watch, and he didn't want to even begin to imagine how Alya would beat herself up knowing that they got akumatized _again_.

An hour or two later, Nino wasn't too sure, he was still running through the streets. Thankfully, there were no stray plants to dodge or weave through since Ladybug and Chat Noir had defeated the akumatized kid, but the twins were still nowhere to be found. He had tried calling Alya multiple times, but since she wouldn't pick up, he could only assume that she was still looking herself and hadn't gotten a chance to charge her phone.

Speaking of charging phones, Nino's wasn't doing so well either. The little icon in the top right corner of his screen was just a tiny sliver of red now. He spent too much of his battery trying to make those pointless calls and using his flashlight widget to check the ends of dark alleyways, and now, he would soon be left without a source of light or any means to check up on the situation.

"Dude, this sucks!" he muttered to himself, but he kept on running anyway. For the twins, and for Alya.

As he sprinted through the somewhat empty streets of a sleeping Paris, he called the names of Ella and Etta as loudly as he could. Most of the time, the only replies would be from the windows of disturbed Parisians screaming at him to be quiet, but with a much ruder choice of words. If only he were able to climb up to the rooftops. That way, he'd have a much better view and wouldn't need to get into near-fights with the angry twits who kept on cursing at him.

Honestly, it was times like these that made him miss Wayzz. The little turtle dude was really cool, and he would have been a big help in allowing Nino to transform into Carapace. If he could just become a superhero for a few seconds to find the twins before something bad really did happen to them (if it hadn't already), that would be perfect...

Nino paused mid-step as a dark figure illuminated by the moonlight caught his eye. He turned his head upwards, hope filling his chest as he grabbed his phone. It was too dark and he was too far away to properly see who they were, but Nino was almost one hundred percent certain that the figure was Ladybug and that she was just relaxing on the rooftops for a bit after capturing the akuma.

He continued running, using his camera app to zoom in on the dark silhouette in the hopes that he'd be able to make out who it really was. As certain as he may have been, that would have been really embarrassing if he had accidentally mistaken some middle-aged man taking a late-night smoke for Paris's most beloved superhero.

Just as he got close enough to stop running and properly steady his shot, the person suddenly turned around, leaping down from the rooftop with a grace that can only be gained from being a superhero. Definitely not some middle-aged man, unless they had a death wish.

"Dude, Ladybug!" he called out. In his excitement, he fumbled with his phone. Little did he know at the time, but his thumb had accidentally slipped onto the record button.

The darkness of the night was suddenly interrupted by a flash of pink. Nino squinted, the light too bright after spending so much time running through the dimly-lit streets, but he then realized what it meant. He looked away, not wanting to accidentally glimpse Ladybug's true identity, but by then, it was already too late. 

His phone captured everything. As blurry as the video would be later, the girl who appeared after the sudden flash of pink was, without a doubt, high school student and aspiring fashion designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And that pixel of red that swooped around her head and then disappeared into her purse? That had to have been her kwami.

As Marinette disappeared down the opposite end of the alleyway, Nino still looking away until he was sure enough time had passed for her to be able to leave, his phone died and the video was saved into his album, right beside some photos of Alya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote half of this before my computer shut down and I lost the draft. :)


End file.
